Singapore’s local neighborhood football club Hougang United is basking in its first-ever Singapore Cup victory that happened over the weekend.
The team aka the Cheetahs defeated previous Singapore Cup winner Tampines Rovers 3-2 and were crowned champions on Saturday at the Jalan Besar Stadium which had close to 3,000 spectators.
All goals were made by midfielder Kristijan Krajcek who became the first player to score a hat-trick in a Singapore Cup final.
“Week after week after tough results, it would have been easy to just give up and look forward to next season, but they kept trying and kept believing, This is the product of patience and hard work, I am very delighted for the club and players – we deserve it,” Hougang assistant coach Firdaus Kassim told the Football Association of Singapore.
Head coach of Tampines Rovers, who won the Cup four times – most recently in 2019, said the defeat will motivate the team to do better.
“One game does not throw away all the good work we have done as a team over the season, this loss will just kickstart our 2023 campaign in a sense and we will definitely use (the defeat as motivation) in a positive way,” Gavin Lee said.
On Friday, Albirex Niigata finished third by beating Balestier Khalsa 3-2. The former, who signed Ilhan Fandi this year, won the AIA Singapore Premier League earlier last month. They were also crowned champions of the Cup for four consecutive years in 2015.
Besides having the honor of holding the Singapore Cup trophy, Hougang United was awarded S$50,000 in prize money while runners-up Tampines Rovers received S$30,000. Albirex Niigata and Balestier Khalsa received $$20,000 and $$10,000 respectively.
Superb mental fortitude from Farhan Zulkifli. After being yelled at by Kristijan Krajcek, the full back set up the Croatian to score the equaliser and his second of the night. And what a goal that was! #SGCup pic.twitter.com/Ed3qqnUDKu
— Singapore Premier League (@SGPremierLeague) November 20, 2022
The Singapore Cup final marks the end of Singapore’s football season.
While the local football scene is not as big as the Premier League or the World Cup, which kicked off yesterday with home team Qatar losing to Ecuador 0-2, this Redditor asks if you could still give the local teams a chance.
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